MUMBAI: Congress and NCP leaders met this morning to decide on seat sharing for Maharashtra Assembly elections but the talks were "inconclusive." 

Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane told reporters that the two sides have decided to meet again at 8.30 pm as "no solution could be arrived at."

The meeting was held at Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's official residence - Varsha.
Congress has been refusing to yield to NCP's demand for equal seats, while the latter has rejected offer of 124 of the state's 288 Assembly seats.

NCP leader Praful Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state party chief Sunil Tatkare and other leaders attended the meeting, to resolve the seat-sharing deadlock and salvage the 15-year-old alliance.

State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre, who was present at the meeting, also said the "talks were inconclusive." 

NCP's core committee chaired by party chief Sharad Pawar had gone into a huddle here yesterday where it reaffirmed that the alliance should continue but insisted on getting a larger share of the state's 288 Assembly seats than 124 offered by Congress.

NCP had contested 114 and Congress 174 in 2009 Assembly elections and has been insisting on fielding candidates in half of the 288 seats, citing it had double the number of Lok Sabha seats in the state than Congress. In the worst-ever performance for the ruling alliance, NCP had won 4 Lok Sabha seats against Congress' 2. -PTI

INCHEON: Abhinav Bindra ended his shooting career with his first Asian Games individual medal, a bronze in the 10 metre air rifle event of the 17th Asian Games at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range here Tuesday.

The 2008 Olympic champion Bindra, who Monday tweeted that Tuesday will be his last day as a professional, recorded a final score of 187.1 to take the third position as China finished one-two with Haoran Yang (209.6) clinching the gold medal and Yifel Cao (208.9) taking the silver.

Bindra looked like finishing fourth till his penultimate round but Iran's Pourya Norouziyan, who needed a 9.9 to ensure his progress after the 31-year-old Indian shot 10.5, scored a poor 9.6 to slip to the fourth spot and handed Bindra a podium finish.

Bindra scored 10.6 and 10.7 in his final two shots but it was not enough to stop the rampaging Chinese duo.

Earlier in the day, Bindra also had led India to the bronze medal in the 10 metre air rifle men's team event.

Bindra's individual bronze medal was India's eighth medal in the Incheon Games and sixth from the shooting range.

Bindra's bronze also marks the end of an illustrious career with an elusive Asiad individual medal.

"Tomorrow will mark the end of my professional shooting life. I will, however, still shoot, compete as a hobby shooter, training twice a week," Bindra, who won the gold in the Beijing Olympics, had tweeted Monday.

Bindra announced in July that the 2014 Glasgow Games would be his last Commonwealth Games and he finished it off in style by winning his maiden singles Commonwealth Games gold.

The former World Champion still hoped that he would participate at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

"And yes, I will still try to be at Rio and my bio is now most appropriate! Great times and am sure there will be a few more!" Bindra tweeted.

In 2006, Bindra became the first Indian shooter to become a World Champion and two years later he scripted history by winning the individual gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics.

Bindra, who was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, has four Commonwealth gold medals. 
Bindra had won the team silver in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou. –IANS

INCHEON: Top seed Saurav Ghosal lost to Abdullah Al Muzayen of Kuwait 2-3 in the men's singles final of the squash event and had to settle for a silver medal, India's first in the discipline at Asian Games, at the Yeorumul Squash Courts here Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was the odds on favourite to win the first gold for India in the racquet sport at the Asiad and that belief was only strengthened after he won the first two games.

But shockingly, Ghosal lost the next three games to hand the Kuwaiti a 10-12, 2-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-9 win in an hour and 15 minutes.-IANS

New Delhi/Washington: India is expecting a "substantive" outcome from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's high-profile US visit from September 26 during which he will have nearly 50 engagements including a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama and a speech at the UN General Assembly.

Briefing the reporters on the visit, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in New Delhi also made it clear that the prime minister "looks forward and not backward" in a relationship when asked about Modi's boycott by the US after the Gujarat riots in 2002.

"We see Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to New York and Washington as a signal of India's abiding commitment to multilateralism and of a desire to build on a growing convergences in Indo-US ties in the areas where we can work together and in areas where we can do more for each other," he said.

Giving the details of various facets of the Indo-US strategic relationship, the spokesperson said from "atom to outer space and everything in-between" are areas of cooperation between the two countries and the visit will provide an opportunity to enhance this cooperation.

He also said during the deliberations the focus will be trade and investment, energy, science and technology, defence, maritime as well as counter-terrorism and security.

He said the two countries would also explore ways to enhance cooperation in third countries including Afghanistan, which is undergoing transition, and Africa.

"I can assure that there will be substantive outcomes..", the spokesperson said.

During his over 100 hours of stay in the US, Modi will deliver his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly that will among other issues focus on need for reforms in the UN with India being included as Permanent Member in the Security Council given the country's role in major UN initiatives such as peacekeeping.

A hectic agenda awaits Modi in the US as he would utilise his stay to meet top global leaders, address thousands of cheering crowds, make a speech at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and interact with CEOs of the Fortune 500, in addition to his Oval Office meeting with Obama.

The series of engagements -- estimated to be over 50 – in a little over 100 hours from the time Air India One touches down at the John F Kennedy international airport in New York on September 26 till the wheels are up at the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington on September 30 evening –- are all aimed at achieving Modi's goal of a resurgent India.

In his interactions with top American CEOs, a majority of whom are said to be from Fortune 500, the Prime Minister would be rolling out his policy of "red carpet and not red tape" to invite them to come, invest and make in India. -PTI

Beirut/Damascus/Amman: At least 58 people were killed Tuesday, including 50 jihadis, as the US-led alliance launched airstrikes on Islamic extremists in Syria, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdul Rahman, told Efe news agency.

The Syrian government was informed in advance about the operation on its territory.

The fatalities included 50 members of the Nusra Front, affiliated to the Al Qaeda in Syria, who died in a rocket attack on their base in the western part of the northern city of Aleppo.

The rest were civilians, among them a woman and two minors, who were killed in a bombing on the Kafr Diryan village bordering the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.

The US late Monday announced the beginning of the international operation against the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group on Syrian territory, without mentioning the Nusra Front.

The alliance's warplanes hit bases of the IS in Raqaa, Deir al-Zur, al-Hasakah and the Aleppo governorates, Abdul Rahman said by phone.

He added that positions of the Nusra Front were also targeted.

It is still unknown whether any IS fighters were killed or wounded in the bombings.

According to SOHR, the alliance launched more than 50 attacks over several hours on IS bases, many of which were evacuated last week.

US Defence Department spokesman John Kirby had announced hours earlier that his country and its allies had begun the air attacks.

The Washington Post and New York Times newspapers quoted official sources as saying that five Arab countries had taken part in the attacks -- Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Damascus announced Tuesday that it supported and was ready for any international effort against the jihadi groups as long as it respected national sovereignty and is consistent with international decisions. 

According to a Xinhua report, Washington had informed Syria of airstrikes against positions of the IS in Syria before Tuesday's strikes started.

The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday that Syria's envoy to the UN was informed Monday about the commencement of the US-led airstrikes against IS positions in Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa, adding the airstrikes started before daybreak Tuesday.

The ministry did not mention the Syrian government's response to the airstrikes.

Meanwhile, Jordan announced Tuesday that its warplanes took part in the US-led air operation against the IS jihadis in northern Syria, an Efe report from Amman said.

In a statement reported by the official news agency Petra, a source at army headquarters said that the Jordanian air force destroyed "several targets".

Without mentioning Syria, the statement said that the strikes were aimed at "positions of terrorist groups that are used as platforms to launch operations against Jordanian territory".

"The armed forces will not hesitate to give a decisive answer to these groups, as they will not tolerate harming border security and Jordanian citizens," the statement said.

All the aircraft and their crew returned safely to their bases, the statement added.-IANS

Srinagar: More than 3,500 babies were born in government hospitals in Kashmir at the peak of devastating floods that affected most of the tertiary care hospitals in the Valley.

Nearly 2,300 normal deliveries and 1,260 Caesarean sections were conducted from September 4 to 20 in various hospitals of Kashmir which were functional during this period, an official spokesman said today.

The spokesman said statistics now available show that 5,77,595 patients came to the OPDs in all the district hospitals across the Kashmir Valley during the fortnight ending September 20.

"Nearly 34,600 patients were admitted for treatment while 1,435 major surgeries and 1,03,160 lab tests were conducted at these hospitals," he said.

During this period, 145 medical camps were set up, including 62 in Srinagar city, and essential medicine were provided in most of the areas, the spokesman said.

Despite having suffered losses to the tune of Rs 100 crore, the SMHS Hospital authorities set up a free medical camp in which patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other chronic ailments were given consultation and treatment.

The Bone and Joint Hospital Barzulla was made functional immediately after the floods. The outpatient department of Lal Ded and G B Pant hospitals has been made functional after water was drained out and cleans up operations conducted yesterday. –PTI

SRINAGAR: The Centre has dispatched large quantities of medicines and vaccines to flood-affected Jammu and Kashmir to prevent outbreak of water borne diseases.

"Over 5.5 lakh doses of measles vaccine and 30,000 bottles of vitamin A for Srinagar and 50, 000 doses of measles vaccine for Jammu have been sent," Union Ministry of 
Home Affairs told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

The High Court is hearing a Public Interest Litigation on the alleged inadequate relief measures in flood-ravaged areas of the state.

The counsel for the Centre submitted a report which said 10 lakh chlorine tablets have been supplied to Jammu and Kashmir while an additional 11 lakh tablets are being supplied by rail from Bhopal to Delhi and will be airlifted to the state.

"25 lakh metric ton bleaching power has reached Jammu.
3,000 vials of anti rabies vaccine have been organised by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

"One lakh sanitary napkins and 50,000 packets of ORS are being airlifted from Mumbai and Delhi respectively," the report said.

The MHA report said a group of 20 specialist doctors from Medical Association have been deployed in Srinagar.

"Two Psycho-social teams for psycho-social need assessment have been deployed on September 12 from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Bangalore," the report reveals.

The MHA report says that on the request of state government, a deployment plan of 191 specialist doctors and technicians including 28 physicians, 27 gynaecologists, 28 anaesthetists, six radiologist, six surgeons, 28 paediatricians, 34 Operation Theatre Technicians and 34 OT assistants is being organised by MHFW. 

A team of Special Director General Health Services, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary and Additional Deputy Director General of MHFW came to Srinagar for assessing the health situation in flood-hit State, it said.

Two central Public Health teams have been posted one each in Jammu and Srinagar since September 8 for rapid health assessment and to prevent and control public health exigencies.

A 29-member clinical team comprising physicians, paediatricians and gynaecologists has been positioned in the Valley for providing specialised care to affected people in district hospital of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Budgam and Bandipora, the report added.

The report said 80 medical teams so far have been deployed by the army for providing medical aid.

"Army base hospital and four field hospitals at Awantipura, Pattan, Anantnag and Old Airfield are functional.

Medical aid has been provided to 97,058 patients till September 18," it said.
The report said that 1.2 lakh oxygen cylinders sent by army as well as Mobile Oxygen generation plant Nitrous oxide cylinders have also been sent by army.

"Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has organised supply of necessary medicines to the state Government," said the report.

The report revealed that 1.5 lakh antibiotic tablets, 65,800 bottles antipyretic, 72,000 anti acidity injections and one lakh anti-vomiting tablets have been supplied to the flood-hit State. -PTI

KOTDWARA: Five persons were killed when a jeep fell into a gorge on Vironkhal-Baijaro road in Pauri Garhwal.

The jeep was headed to Dhumakot from Kanad village in Vironkhal Development block last evening when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it plunged into the 400-m-deep gorge near Simari village, according to police station in-charge of Dhumakot N K Bachkheti.

Five persons, including driver Mohan Singh (52), died on the spot.
Police and villagers rescued three injured persons who were sent to Primary Health Centre at Rikhnikhal. -PTI

WASHINGTON: Underlining that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit presents an opportunity for progress on key issues in Indo-US ties, a top American think tank has said the two countries must ensure that it is the beginning of "renewed attention" towards each other than a one-off attempt.

"Once the pomp and ceremony of the visit have passed, the two countries must ensure that it does not represent a one-off attempt but rather the beginning of renewed attention to a relationship that requires constant tending," said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security.

Fontaine, in a new policy brief titled "Seizing the Modi Moment: Reenergising US-India Ties on the Eve of the Prime Minister's Visit", has offered a series of concrete recommendations including completing Bilateral Investment Treaty negotiations and jump-starting trade liberalisation talks.

He recommends complete implementation of the civil nuclear agreement, renew and expand the Defense Framework Agreement and deepen regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, including through dialogue on post-2016 Afghanistan and by reviving the US-India-Japan-Australia Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

"Taking steps in these areas would represent movement on only the highest priority items; there remains a rich agenda that touches on energy cooperation, democracy promotion, education and other spheres," Fontaine said.

"In moving forward, it will be critical for leaders in both countries to keep their bureaucracies focused on the long-term prize: a significantly deepened strategic partnership. In the absence of such top-down direction, the two countries will once again find their agendas stalled by myriad tactical-level impediments," he said.

"To this end, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi should each designate a high-level relationship 'owner' on each side who will help combat the perception that Washington has lost interest in India and that New Delhi is too inwardly focused to think ambitiously about its relationship with America," Fontaine wrote.

"The US Vice President or a cabinet-level official could fulfill this function on the American side; the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor might play such a role for India," he suggested.

The visit of Modi to the United States represents an important opportunity to rejuvenate bilateral ties after a period of malaise and inattention.

By making sure that it is the beginning of renewed attention to bilateral ties, Fontaine said, "they can deepen the transformation of relations between two great powers, anchor an Asian balance of power, spur growth in both countries and smoothen the rise of the world's largest democracy."

"In a world awash with intractable challenges, this is a investment worth making," he said. -PTI

NEW YORK: Now, you may know why you drink more on days when you hit the gym or attend aerobic classes at the neighbourhood park - as a reward for sweating out! Using smartphone technology, a fascinating study has found that that on days when people exercise more - typically Thursdays to Sundays - they also drink more alcohol too.

"Monday through Wednesday, people batten down the hatches and they cut back on alcohol consumption. But once that 'social weekend' kicks off on Thursdays, physical activity increases and so does alcohol consumption," said lead study author David E. Conroy from the Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

To reach this conclusion, researchers analysed 150 participants, ages 18 to 89, who recorded their physical activity and alcohol use in smartphones at the end of the day.

They did so for 21 days at a time, at three different times throughout one year.

"In this study, people only have to remember one day of activity or consumption at time, so they are less vulnerable to memory problems or other biases that come in to play when asked to report the past 30 days of behaviour," Conroy noted.

The previous studies, which relied on 30-day self-reporting, concluded that physically active people tend to drink more alcohol.
"We looked very closely and found that it is not people who exercise more drink more
 -- it is that on days when people are more active they tend to drink more than on days they are less active," Conroy pointed out.
This finding was uniform across study participants of all levels of physical activity and ages.

"Perhaps people reward themselves for working out by having more to drink or maybe being physically active leads them to encountering more social situations where alcohol is consumed," Conroy stated.

Once we understand the connection between the two variables, we can design novel interventions that promote physical activity while curbing alcohol use, he concluded.
The study was published online in Health Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association. -IANS

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate today carried out its first arrest in the money laundering probe in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal, taking into custody Gautam Khaitan, an ex-board member of an accused company.

The agency, which is trying to track the alleged kickbacks of Rs 360 crore from the deal, arrested Khaitan, a businessman and advocate, after searches were conducted at two of his premises in the national capital yesterday.

"Khaitan has been arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He is required for further detailed interrogation in the case," ED sources said.

The agency, after searches, had seized jewellery worth Rs one crore and impounded some "important" financial documents from his premises.

This is the first big action by the ED in this case after it registered a criminal FIR in the deal in July this year against Khaitan, former IAF chief S P Tyagi and 19 others in the VVIP chopper deal to probe the alleged kickbacks of Rs 360 crore.

Khaitan was on the board of Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix which is allegedly a front company for the financial dealings of the chopper deal.

According to CBI and other agencies, they had detected that funds for the particular deal were allegedly routed through this firm and few others.

A reference to Khaitan was also reportedly made in the Italian prosecutor's report filed in a court in Italy.

Khiatan, however, has refuted all the allegations made against him.

He earlier been quizzed by the CBI in this case. The ED had registered a case in this deal under PMLA, taking cognisance of a more-than-a-year-old CBI FIR. -PTI 

NEW DELHI: National Award winning Hindi film "Liar's Dice", starring acclaimed actors Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has been zeroed in on as India's entry for the best foreign film category at the 87th Academy Awards.

The film has been chosen by a 12-member jury appointed by the Film Federation of India (FFI), and out of a record number of 30 shortlisted films.

"'Liar's Dice' is the chosen film as India's Oscar entry this time," Supran Sen, general secretary, FFI, told IANS.

The movie, debut directed by Malayalam actress Geetu Mohandas, tells the story of a young tribal mother who, along with her three-year-old daughter, embarks on a journey in search of her missing husband. On the way, she meets an army deserter, who decides to accompany them to their destination.

"Liar's Dice" won the best cinematography honour for Rajeev Ravi and best actress title for Geetanjali at the 61st National Film Awards. –IANS

SRINAGAR: The devastating floods marooned everything in Kashmir, including the fibre-optic based and mobile telephone communication system, but a team of 13 officials from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ensured that the Valley was reconnected to the outside world for coordinating relief work.

The four communication nodes with direct satellite link set up by the ISRO team proved vital in ensuring round the clock communication between the officials of the state government and other agencies in the flood-affected areas as well as the outside world.

The first node was set up on the premises of Hari Niwas Guest House, which had become the make shift seat of the state government with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, several of his ministers and top officials operating from there.

The other three nodes were installed at Rajbhawan, Civil Secretariat and Srinagar Airport.

"Our team waded through waist deep water to install the communication node at the Civil Secretariat," Virender Kumar, group head of Satcom Systems and Technology Group (SSTG) at ISRO's Space Application Centre at Ahmadebad, told PTI.

Kumar and his team left Kashmir for home today, satisfied that the Valley has been connected to the country-wide Disaster Management Support (DMS) network.

"At ISRO, we are working for last couple of years on setting up a nation-wide DMS network. We will be enhancing the capability of the network in the coming time.
"We have handed over the four nodes to the state government if, God forbid, these are needed again," he said.

Kumar was all praise for the state government employees who learned in the shortest possible time how to operate the communication nodes.

"ISRO will arrange for the annual maintenance contract for these nodes but it is now the responsibility of the state government to keep this equipment in good shape," Kumar said.

Asked why the DMS nodes were not installed earlier as Jammu and Kashmir is in a disaster-prone zone, he said ISRO was ready to install these nodes across the country but it is the state government which has to come foward with its requirements.

The ISRO official said the space research organisation is mulling to connect the DMS nodes to the ground optic fibre network. –PTI

NEW DELHI: A white tiger at Delhi Zoo mauled to death a youth after he fell into its enclosure this afternoon.

Eyewitnesses said that the incident took place as the victim, said to be in his early 20s, was taking pictures of the tiger.

Police said that the body of the victim, who is yet to be identified, is still lying inside the enclosure and police and the staff at the zoo are trying to take it out.

"The tiger attacked the youth after he fell into the enclosure. It attacked his neck," an eyewitness said.

Police said that further investigation is on into the matter. -PTI

INCHEON: India's champion shooter Abhinav Bindra kept everyone guessing on whether he has retired or not saying he won't be able to train for 40-50 hours every week as he has done for the last 20 years and will only attempt to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics if he thinks he is still good enough at the international level.

A day after announcing his retirement from competitive shooting, Bindra, India's only individual Olympic champion, led the 10m air rifle team to a bronze before clinching the individual bronze here at the 17th Asian Games. Bindra also won a silver in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

"I am happy with the results. It was a tough competition today and the Chinese were excellent, but I am glad I managed to hang on and return with a medal," said Bindra.

The 31-year-old Bindra said he doesn't know how things will pan out for him now. 
"I don't know we will see. Maybe I will become a professional again in two days time. 
I dont know how it is going to pan out," Bindra was quoted as saying by NDTV. 

Bindra said it won't be possible for him to train like a professional shooter any more.
"Shooting is an amateur sport but everybody does it professionally. Look at all these Chinese shooters, they train 50 hours a week. It is nothing but professional and I did that for 20 years. I trained 40-50 hours a week and I cannot do that any more. Shooting is in my blood and I cannot do without it. If I don't shoot for two weeks my body becomes numb," said Bindra. 

The former World Champion said he would be training just twice a week after the Asian Games.

"I will train twice a week from here on. Will try to compete domestically and compete at all the trials. And only if I am good enough for the world level like I did here I would try to go for the World Cups and win a quota for the Rio Games. My participation in World Cups shall only happen if I feel like and only when I am playing good enough with better scores. I will then try for the quota place and would become a hobby shooter," he said.

Asked if there was any regret on missing out on an Asian Games gold, Bindra said he was "absolutely delighted with what he has achieved." "I dont have any regrets at all. I think when you go into a shooting competition you dont know what colour of medal you will get especially with the new rules. If you end up with the medal I think it is a fantastic achievement. I am absolutely delighted with what I have achieved," he said.

Bindra said he doesn't feel like a veteran among the crowd of young shooters. "I feel fine," he said.

Bindra had announced Monday that he would retire from competitive shooting after the 10m air rifle competition but added that he would still give his last shot at the 2016 Olympic Games.

It created confusion and the shooter later clarified saying: "I want to be a hobby shooter for a bit. If I am shooting well enough to compete at World Cups, I will surely go for trials and compete. If I qualify for Rio of course I will compete." Bindra announced in July that the 2014 Glasgow Games would be his last Commonwealth Games and he finished it off in style by winning his maiden singles Commonwealth Games gold.

In 2006, Bindra became the first Indian shooter to become a World Champion and two years later he scripted history by winning the individual gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics.

Bindra, who was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, has four Commonwealth gold medals. He won singles silver medals in 2002 and 2010 and bronze in 2006. –IANS